As he addressed a news conference at one his golf courses in Florida, he said along with it there is nothing that could prevent making Russia a friendly country "so that we could knock out ISIS together".

Trump claimed that Putin does not respect Barack Obama but he "is going to respect" him when he becomes President, adding: "And I hope he likes me."

"I’m not going to tell Putin what to do," Trump said. "Why should I tell Putin what to do?"

He dismissed U.S. media allegations he was drawing on Russian support. "It’s just a total deflection, this whole thing with Russia," he said.

Trump also said it was not at all clear who had hacked computers of the Democratic National Convention.

"If it’s any foreign country it shows how little respect they have for the United States," he said about the vague incident, in which the hacked emails of the Democrats ended up in the disposal of WikiLeaks.

"President Trump would be so much better for U.S. relations (with Russia and Vladimir Putin - TASS) than a President Clinton," Trump said. "I don’t think he (Putin) respects Clinton.".